DOI: 10.1007/s11336-005-1495-y ITEM RANDOMIZED-RESPONSE MODELS FOR MEASURING NONCOMPLIANCE: RISK-RETURN PERCEPTIONS, SOCIAL INFLUENCES, AND SELF-PROTECTIVE RESPONSES

Randomized response (RR) is a well-known method for measuring sensitive behavior. Yet this method is not often applied because: (i) of its lower efficiency and the resulting need for larger sample sizes which make applications of RR costly; (ii) despite its privacy-protection mechanism the RR design may not be followed by every respondent; and (iii) the incorrect belief that RR yields estimates only of aggregate-level behavior but that these estimates cannot be linked to individual-level covariates. This paper addresses the efficiency problem by applying item randomized-response (IRR) models for the analysis of multivariate RR data. In these models, a person parameter is estimated based on multiple measures of a sensitive behavior under study which allow for more powerful analyses of individual differences than available from univariate RR data. Response behavior that does not follow the RR design is approached by introducing mixture components in the IRR models with one component consisting of respondents who answer truthfully and another component consisting of respondents who do not provide truthful responses. An analysis of data from two large-scale Dutch surveys conducted among recipients of invalidity insurance benefits shows that the willingness of a respondent to answer truthfully is related to the educational level of the respondents and the perceived clarity of the instructions. A person is more willing to comply when the expected benefits of noncompliance are minor and social control is strong. Key words: randomized response, item response theory, cheating, concomitant variable, sensitive behavior, efficiency

Annex 2.12 : Research initiatives for addressing the technology gaps in primary processing of small millets

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)Benchmark design features are provided to guide new designs of hulling machines for small millets. This Annex is part of a larger project “Scaling Up Small Millet Post-Harvest and Nutritious Food Products.” Details of the development of new hullers are given in this report. Trials were conducted on several varieties of millets. More trials with different specific gravity separators are necessary, so that suitable models can be recommended to small millet processors. Prototypes and methods of grain processing are described and discussed, illustrated with clear photographs. Machine performance and efficiencies are presented, as well as improved storage innovations

The prologue to the old French Vie de St. Alexis : a linguistic study with considerations of its prosodic and conceptual features

This thesis represents a three-fold analysis of the prologue to the Old French Vie de St. Alexis as found in its principal manuscript, that of the St. Albans psalter, commonly denoted "L" manuscript. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not the illustrator and scribe of this document may be the author of the prologue as well as of the poem. This former text has not previously received more than cursory attention from linguistic scholars. Questions of authorship, date, and place of composition for Alexis were raised earlier by Otto Pacht, art historian of the St. Albans psalter, who suggests that the Anglo-Norman L ms. may constitute the original form of the Old French poem. He has pointed out that a linguistic study of the prologue, which occurs only in L ms., may yield information toward establishing the date and time of the poem's composition. Heretofore, scholars have generally accepted the findings of Gaston Paris, who maintained that L ms. harked back to a lost original, composed in France ca. 1050. Paris was inclined to believe that the prologue as well originated in France, as part of the original "O.